MTNL sees opportunity in bus service

NEW DELHI, INDIA: After connecting two major metros in the country through telecom network, 3G-ready Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL), is now looking at providing transport service in the national capital.

The company is in the process of launching a premium bus service in Delhi, to connect the important locations in the city.

According to top official sources, a proposal to launch premium bus services has been drafted.

“The bus service is likely to be launched once they get the permission from the government. Being a Navaratna PSU, we can launch bus service in the national capital,” the source said.

Unlike the current city buses, this would be premium bus service connecting the major locations like the Delhi Metro Rail stations.

The company has proposed to launch 2,000 buses in the first phase, out of more than 5000 vehicles it plans to roll out.

Currently there are around 6,000 city buses in Delhi, including 3000 private-owned and 2500 Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) buses.

According to the Supreme Court guidelines, Delhi should have 10,000 buses.

The PSU has also technically qualified for offering DTC buses monitoring service.

AK Arora, executive director, MTNL, told CyberMedia News that the operator has bid for the ‘DTC buses automatic vehicle monitoring system’ and has ‘technically qualified’ and are awaiting the Delhi government’s approval.

“We will be offering this service on GPS technology. We are technically qualified for this tender and are planning to invest Rs 20 crore for this service,” Arora said.

The operator has partnered with two companies- Winfoware Technologies Ltd (Bangalore) and Avantel Softech Ltd. (Hyderabad).

Winfoware would provide the software and Avantel for the hardware for offering the vehicle tracking system.

“The entire system will run on MTNL’s network. This will allow the DTC buses to be monitored from remote location helping better connectivity and efficiency. Now we are waiting for the government’s permission for this,” Arora said.